Synthesis and Commercial Preparation of Food Emulsifiers

Food emulsifiers, more correctly referred to as surfactants, are molecules, which contain a nonpolar, and one or more polar regions. In general, nonpolar groups are aliphatic, alicyclic, or aromatic hydrocarbons. Polar functional groups contain heteroatoms such as oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. As shown in Fig. 2.1, the polar functionality makes the emulsifier anionic, cationic, amphoteric, or nonionic. Anionic surfactants contain a negative charge on the bulky molecule, associated with a small positive counterion. Cationics have a positively charged molecule with a negative counterion. Amphoteric surfactants contain both positive and negative charges on the same molecule. A nonionic surfactant contains no formal positive or negative charge, but a polar heteroatom produces a dipole with an electron dense and electron-depleted region.

Many synthetic emulsifiers have been used in the food industry without evidence of harmful effects. Their chemistry is derived from over 150 years of chemical manipulation of fats and oils (Polouze and Gelis, 1844). They have been designed to contain naturally occurring molecules or in the case of non-naturally occurring molecules, to pass through the body without being metabolized. For example, cleavage of polyglycerol esters results in a fatty acid, which is metabolized, and a polyglycerol backbone, which passes through the digestive system without being absorbed.